The next time you travel to the south side, there’s a shiny new subway station waiting for you. It’s actually more than that. The CTA’s 95th Street Terminal is more of an intermodal station, like the one in the West Loop, because it handles travelers using the CTA Red Line, more than a dozen CTA bus routes, as well as commercial long-distance bus lines. On an average day the number of people who use the station is the same as the...

The Chicago Transit Authority’s transformation of the 95th Street Red Line station is becoming visible to people who don’t even ride mass transit. Officially, this is a “terminal,” not a “station” because it is the end of the line for passengers. But hope springs eternal for the Red Line extension down to 130th street, now in its fourth decade of promises from the city’s politicians. When...

Seventeen years after its last renovation, the CTA’s Garfield Green Line station (320 East Garfield Boulevard) is getting another makeover. Starting now. Ground was recently broken on what is called the Garfield Gateway project. We first reported on it in July of 2016, when $25 million federal tax dollars were allocated to transform the dilapidated transit hub into a modern commuter portal. The city has come up with the...

The City of Chicago has announced the route it wants the CTA’s Red Line to take when work begins on its southern extension. The project has been the dream of commuters, and the campaign promise of many a politician for decades. While it’s possible to take a subway to the northern, eastern, and western extremities of Chicago, the far south side has been relegated to bus service. At a news conference, Mayor Rahm Emanuel...

The Chicago Transit Authority plans to start work next year rebuilding a mile of Red and Purple Line tracks on the north side between Lawrence and Bryn Mawr. It’s the first phase of the agency’s “Red Ahead” rebuilding program on the north side. Doing so will bring more space to the platforms, better access for the handicapped, and increased opportunities for local real estate development. When the project is...

The Chicago Transit Authority’s most historic elevated rail station is about to get a big renovation. The City of Chicago has issued construction permits for the renovation of the Quincy/Wells station (220 South Wells Street), which serves the Brown, Purple, Orange, and Pink Lines. It’s also a transfer point for grabbing an Amtrak or Metra train out of Union Station, or a ride on certain long-distance bus lines....

Amid much pomp and circumstance, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Transit Authority, a bevy of politicians, and representatives of CRRC Sifang broke ground yesterday on a new factory in the Hegewisch neighborhood that will be used to produce CTA subway cars. Much of the hot air being blown by Hizzonor and other local pols was about how this is the first time since 1964 that rail cars for Chicago’s transit system are being made in...

The Chicago Transit Authority continues to get improving marks when it comes to public sector architecture. For decades, the bus and train quango’s attention to design was… shall we say… less than inspired. But that’s changed in recent years, starting with the 35th Street Red Line Station, the Morgan Orange/Pink Line station, then the Cermak Green Line Station, and finally the very ambitious Washington/Wabash...

Work on the CTA Wilson Avenue Red Line station continues, where red and purple line trains are now using the new section of rail on the south-bound side of the platform. Renovation began in 2014 for the Wilson stop, long maligned as one of the least pleasant stations along the CTA elevated train routes. When completed in Fall of 2017, the Wilson station will be completely rebuilt, with wider stairways, new escalators, and improved...

The Madison/Wabash CTA L station closed for good March 16. Its replacement down the street at Washington/Wabash, however, does not yet resemble an elevated rail depot. Crews long ago finished removing the old structure, built in 1896, leaving just two stations open along Wabash Street in The Loop; one at Randolph Street, and another at Adams Street. While the L trains simply have one fewer stop to make, auto traffic is what really...